Death toll mounts for stranded pilot whales-photos

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Rebeccah Hazelkorn, right, a standing investigative biologist with Mote Marine Laboratory and Tom Dube, a technician with the Lee County Department of Natural Resources, hoist a dead pilot whale out of the water at a boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Brad Martin, a technician with the Lee County Department of Natural Resources helps to hoist a dead pilot whale out of the water at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Onlookers watch as a dead pilot whale is hoisted out of the water at a boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Officials circulate in New Pass as dead pilot whales are removed from the water at a nearby boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Ninety eight-year-old Dorothy Nichter and her daughter Bettie Cooley, of Fort Myers, examine a dead pilot whale as a plain clothes Lee County Sheriff's Officer asks them to stop after the whale was removed from the water at a boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach. The officer refused to give his name.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Officials hoist a dead pilot whale onto the bed of a truck at a boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Mike and Jayne Erpelding, of Fort Wayne, Ind., pose for a photo with a dead pilot whale after it was removed from the water at a boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Officials hoist a dead pilot whale onto the bed of a truck at a boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Officials hoist a dead pilot whale onto the bed of a truck at a boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - An onlooker touches the tail of a dead pilot whale after it was removed from the water at a boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, in Fort Myers Beach.